Search form

Close, but no District 54 titles for Folsom

Doug Guler for the TelegraphMatthew Gallant of the Folsom National 10-11-year-old All-Stars takes a swing during the championship game Saturday at Stone House Field in Rancho Murieta. Folsom National lost the game to El Dorado Hills, 10-3. Gallant had one of his team's four hits.

Doug Guler for the TelegraphFolsom American Major All-Star Aidan Santos makes contact in a 36-0 win over Divide on July 2. Folsom American made the final three before losing to Roseville West Sunday, 11-1.

The Folsom National Little League 10-11-year-old All-Stars, as well as the Junior squad, led the way at the District 54 tournaments, as both teams reached the title games.

The younger group earned half of Folsom National’s 10 wins over the four tournaments and did so the hard way.

After opening their tournament with a devastating 17-16 loss to Lakeside, who scored 11 runs in the sixth inning to win the game, Folsom National won five straight games in a week’s span, including an 11-8 victory over Woodcreek on Friday to reach the championship game.

Folsom National, however, fell to El Dorado Hills 10-3.

“Some of the guys took that loss (to Lakeside) hard, but it only took them a day to get over it,” Folsom National Manager Brendan Murphy said. “This is a great group of kids with a lot of heart and desire. I couldn’t have hand-picked a group of kids with better attitudes. In the end, our hitting and defense carried us through this tournament. We put a lot of runners on base and got a lot of big hits in this tournament.”

The Junior All-Stars defeated El Dorado Hills, 13-3, Folsom American 15-14 and Roseville West, 16-9 to reach the title game, but lost twice to Woodcreek, 11-1, and 20-0.

Folsom National’s 9-10-year-old and Major All-Stars each picked up one win in their respective tournaments.

The Folsom American Major All-Stars won its first three games convincing, outscoring opponents 64-0, before losing two straight games to the teams that played for the championship on Monday, El Dorado Hills and Roseville West.

“This is the first team I’ve coached where all 13 guys have the talent to move on to play at the next level,” Folsom American Manager Bob Tremain said. “We just told them to always compete in life and never give up. Do the little things right and big things will happen.”

The Junior squad split their four games, reaching the final four with wins over Cosumnes River (13-3) and Ponderosa (19-13).

Folsom American’s 9-10 All-Stars dropped its first game to Ponderosa, but then defeated Maidu (9-7) and Roseville West (12-2) to reach the final four. The team was eliminated following a 17-10 loss to El Dorado Hills, who went on to place second.

““It was a great tournament,” Folsom Manager Jeff Alkire said. “The group practiced hard and we had a young, diverse group with seven guys from majors, six from Triple A, including one 9-year-old. They worked as hard as ever and got a lot better. We battled and did not roll over and quit. Sometimes you can’t control the outcome. I’m proud of these guys.”

Folsom American’s 10-11-year-old All-Stars suffered two straight losses in their tournament held at Stone House Field in Rancho Murieta.